A year ago, Army officials were praising the cannon, showing off the Minnesota-built prototype on the National Mall. But there were strong indications this spring the Defense Department planned to stop funding the “manned vehicle program.”

The 311 affected employees are part of a workforce of 1,450 at the Fridley plant. They were put on paid leave starting today for “an undefined duration,” said BAE Systems spokesman Ryan May.

“The full duration will be determined once we get the final termination notice from our customer,” which is expected within the next two weeks, he said.

About 308 workers at a BAE Systems plant in Santa Clara, California have also been put on paid leave.

It’s not known what will happen to the workers placed on leave. Said May:

Over the next several months, there may be additional impact on our workforce, but it is too early to speculate on exactly what those outcomes will be. We are doing all we can as a company to retain our talented employees.

We got interested in the story, by the way, after a citizen source in our Public Insight Network dropped us a line with concern about cuts in the Defense Department proposed budget and what it meant for the cannon and the plant.

If you’re connected at all to the plant, please email me and let me know what you’re hearing.